LEGAL

The National Association of Securities Dealers fined a Prudential subsidiary $20 million for violating federal securities laws in connection with the sales of more than 200,000 life insurance policies.

Prudential Insurance Co. of America has already paid $70 million in penalties and set aside $2.6 billion to pay policyholders who sued over the admittedly deceptive sales practices of the nation's largest life insurer.

MEDIA

CBS, owner of the No. 1-rated U.S. television network, said it's buying a 35 percent stake in the health-care Internet site Medscape in exchange for $150 million worth of promotion.

New York-based Medscape will get permission to use the CBS trademark and eye logo as well as promotion over seven years across CBS network and TV stations, radio and billboards.

PEOPLE

Rexall Sundown appointed Raymond Stadnick vice president-quality. Stadnick joins Boca Raton-based Rexall Sundown following a distinguished 30-year affiliation with Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. During this tenure, he served in several quality assurance and quality control positions.

TECHNOLOGY

Go2Net, the Seattle-based Internet service provider, and Vulcan Ventures, the investment vehicle of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said they plan to invest $20 million in Israel's CommTouch Software Ltd., which makes software for Web-based e-mail operations.

As part of the transaction, CommTouch, which also has a base in Santa Clara, Calif., will develop enhanced e-mail and related services for the Go2Net network and other organizations with which Go2Net has strategic relationships.

United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney engines powering F-15E fighter-bombers performed well during NATO's 78-day air campaign against Serbia, allaying concerns it had significant reliability problems, the U.S. Air Force's top commander in Europe said.

Pratt & Whitney, one of the world's three largest jet-engine makers, implemented a series of improvements in the past year that allowed Boeing Co. F-15Es to fly repeated combat missions well in excess of their scheduled maintenance hours without replacing engines, Gen. John Jumper said in an interview.